The role of trait emotional intelligence in predicting academic stress, burnout, and engagement in Japanese second language learners

Abstract The current study examined the relationship between trait emotional intelligence (TEI), academic stress, burnout, and engagement in Japanese undergraduate students learning English as a second language. One hundred eighty-four participants (females = 87, mean age = 19.7 years) completed two questionnaires, one administered at the beginning of the academic semester (i.e., baseline), and one administered at the end of the academic semester (i.e., follow-up). Structural equation modeling revealed that TEI factors predicted engagement and negatively predicted academic stress, while stress strongly predicted burnout. Cluster analysis and ANOVA revealed that participants with high TEI reported significantly lower scores for stress and burnout and higher scores for academic engagement (i.e., emotional and agentic) compared to participants with low TEI. In addition, exhaustion significantly increased between baseline and follow-up for participants with low TEI but not for participants with high TEI. For participants with high TEI, inadequacy significantly decreased whereas emotional engagement significantly increased between baseline and follow-up. Results suggest that increasing TEI may reduce academic stress and burnout while increasing engagement among second language learners in a Japanese context.